Geno's Idea Of Lower Rims For Women Is Not New

October 24, 2012|By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

STORRS — — The discussion about lowering the rim in women's basketball from 10 feet, illustrated Monday by UConn coach Geno Auriemma and now floating around the nation, is not new.

As far back as the 1970s, coaches such as DePaul's Doug Bruno, now in his 27th year with the Blue Demons, realized how unfair it seemed to have women play a game where the dimensions were designed to accommodate taller and stronger men.

Over the past 40 years, those men have gotten bigger and playing to the rim has become easier. Not so for the women.

"I became an advocate of the lower rim the mid-1970s," Bruno said. "And I have actually tested the concept on a full court, with the professional and collegiate woman I coached in the 1980s [Bruno coached in the Women's Professional League from 1979-81]."

Bruno said the simulated games he sponsored were played on rims ranging from 8 to 9 1/2 feet. And what he discovered, he recalls, was eye-opening.

"It was not an academic study," Bruno said. "It was just a visual study. We lowered the rims and had the players play. The players had some personal resistance because of the attitude that prevailed, anything a guy could do, we can do. Some felt insulted that someone like me even felt they needed help. They were irritated that I even suggested we try it.

"But what I found was that shooting ranges increased, even beyond the excellent ranges they already had. It became easier to shoot from further distances. We didn't [conduct the simulated games] long enough, and I don't have a metric developed by which to measure it. But from what I could see, there was an increased ease with the way they shot the ball.

"The players could jump, hang and shoot, instead of shooting the ball on the way up. Some women can jump, hang and shoot, but not many can. Coming off tight curl cuts from 28 feet and stopping and popping is something a Kobe Bryant can do."

Aside from being one of the most successful college coaches in Division I, Bruno is a veteran coach with USA Basketball. He coached players such as Maya Moore and Tina Charles on the U18 and U19 teams that won gold.

And for the past four years, he assisted Auriemma on teams that won the 2010 World Championship and 2012 Olympic gold medal in London.

"I have always been a proponent and felt that way before Geno and I even knew each other," Bruno said. "It's never gotten beyond the talking stage."

It might be a long time before it does. Auriemma said Monday that he plans to bring the topic up with the NCAA rules committee next year, along with a call for a 24-second shot clock and an eight-second midcourt rule.

On Wednesday, the NCAA offered its response in an email to the Courant.

"The NCAA continues to work with its members and others to grow the game of women's basketball, but the issue Coach Auriemma has raised is not before our membership for consideration."

Yale women's coach Chris Gobrecht also wants to separate the women's game from the men's.

"I didn't think there was anything wrong with UConn's shooting percentage," Gobrecht said with a laugh. "But as someone who has been in the game for a long time [29 years at Yale after coaching at Washington and Cal State Fullerton], I believe one of the mistakes we have made is the idea that we are supposed to be more like the men. It's a huge mistake that I believe is crippling the WNBA, to some extent. I don't see why we insist on comparing our game to the men's game. There is no reason for us to be a cheap version of the men's game. The beauty of our game is that it is a different game. We're not going to look like the men, so why play a game that suits their style. We need to play one that suits us."

What makes Bruno more certain an adjustment to the rim can help the women's game is an experience he had playing.

"What motivated this for me was a time back in the 1960s when I was caddie at golf clubs where I worked with some great basketball players," Bruno said. "While we were waiting for our bag assignment, we'd hang in the caddie yard and play ball.

"Some of these guys were state championship players from Illinois. One caddie master threw up a rim and it stood 11 feet tall. I remember how much drastically harder it was to do things as a guy on that rim. And this was at Idlewild CC in Flossmoor, Ill.

"So not only have I observed it as a women's coach, but I have the experience of having played on a rim that was too tall and how it changed everyone's game."

Bruno said the technology is out there to adjust the rims in gymnasiums all over America. And what isn't readily available now would be if the rules were changed.

"I wasn't able to ascertain the optimal height, but I would opt all the way to 9 feet. You need to keep it metrically precise," Bruno said. "Now we have 7-foot men playing on a 10-foot rim. By and large, we are talking about 6-foot women playing on a 10-foot rim."

And he said that Auriemma's comments should be taken seriously by the NCAA.

"Geno spends a lot of time considering what he wants to say," Bruno said. "It's about trying to make the game better. We are trying to appeal to our fan demographic; the senior citizen, the parents, mothers with daughters. The jaded male fan isn't going to take the time to understand this.

"Our game is compared to the best men's players in the world. We don't get compared to the bad teams. We are trying to market our sport, show everyone how good it is. We are being compared [to the men] and we are playing a different game. Just think about what men's basketball would be like with 11-foot rims."